Haiti After Aristide Little Improved

Troops Have Restored Some Calm, But Wretchedness Remains

She kept it to herself at the time, but Velene Martel was glad to see Jean-Bertrand Aristide leave Haiti.

After 10 years of Lavalas Party rule, the 25-year-old single mother still had never held a job. She lived with four brothers and sisters sharing two rooms in teeming Port-au-Prince.

Drinking water was scarce, electricity blinked out for days at a time, garbage rotted in the streets. The pro-Aristide gunmen called chimeres menaced the capital.

But now, Martel says, three months after the departure of Aristide and the arrival of U.S. troops, conditions are little improved.

"I thought there was going to be work, that the schools were going to be better -- that we would have the things that every normal country has," she said by telephone from Port-au-Prince. "Up to now, I haven't seen any of that."

The 3,600-member Multinational Interim Force led by U.S. Marines has restored a measure of calm, but with rebels and chimeres still armed and apparently settling scores, the nation of 7.5 million million remains a tinderbox:

The cash-strapped interim government, charged with restoring basic services, restarting the economy and setting up new elections, faces questions about legitimacy from Aristide supporters and Caribbean neighbors.

Worsened by the floods last week that killed hundreds of Haitians and left thousands more homeless, humanitarian conditions in the hemisphere's poorest nation remain dire..

The number of Haitians intercepted trying to reach Florida has more than doubled; many who have been returned to the country say they will only try again.

Some help may be on the way. The United States, France and other nations have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in aid. A U.N. peacekeeping mission is scheduled to arrive later this month. After decades of poverty and instability, U.N. officials are talking about making a long-term commitment to lasting development.

But for now, change has been slow to come to Haiti.

"There's no electricity, crime is up, so the situation has really not improved," said Robert Fatton Jr., author of Haiti's Predatory Republic: The Unending Transition to Democracy. "If anything, it could have deteriorated more."

The Caribbean Community, the 15-nation bloc of which Haiti is a member, has refused to recognize the interim government installed by the United States, calling instead for an investigation of the circumstances of Aristide's departure.

The slum priest-turned-president, whose government was widely accused of corruption, drug trafficking and violent repression, left the country Feb. 29 as armed rebels closed in on Port-au-Prince.

Aristide says he was abducted by the United States and France. Washington and Paris have denied the allegation, saying his willing resignation probably averted a bloodbath. Aristide went into exile in South Africa on Monday, maintaining that his stay there was only temporary until the situation in Haiti allows him to return.

Aristide still commands support in Haiti. During a Flag Day rally in Port-au-Prince last month, thousands of demonstrators demanded his return. "I think that indicates that he's still among poor people in the slums the most popular figure," Fatton said.

Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue has spoken of the need to foster a national reconciliation. But critics accuse the interim government of harassment and arrest of former Aristide officials and supporters, while ignoring crimes committed by the rebels. Interim officials have denied knowledge of the kidnapping or killings.

"There are multiple complex problems," said John Bevan, senior humanitarian affairs officer for the U.N. Office of Humanitarian Affairs in Port-au-Prince. "Things are returning to normal, gradually, but there was a lot of disruption earlier in the year, and that's affected the agricultural cycle, and it's affecting agricultural production. There's a problem with electricity supplies, which is obviously having an effect on the economy."

Velene Martel says she is not yet hopeless.

"Before, there used to be the chimeres," she said. "Now, there are a lot of bandits tearing people up. You cannot go out at night. The cost of living is very high. There is a lot of insecurity. There is no life.

"I'm still waiting to see what will happen. I would like a normal country."